The Branded Church Leader
Day two at the 2009 Leadership Summit was equally inspiring. One of the best Summit interviews of all-time was today’s interview with David Gergen. David shared some very engaging and practical insights on leadership from his time serving on the staff of four US Presidents.
Interestingly, one of the characteristics of successful leaders according to David is their brand. Branding is a very common marketing tactic but I don’t think I have ever heard it referenced in relation to leadership. He also called it symbolism. A successful leader leads with a myriad of personal and strategic traits, characteristics, and talents. However, the most prominent and successful ones integrate a strong brand by attaching symbols to their leadership.
Gergen defined for us:
“Leadership is working with others to accomplish shared goals.”
To do that effectively the leader has to communicate clearly and obtain the trust of the followers. To build the trust, the effective leader integrates symbolism and branding that he or she builds around themselves. His examples of symbols leaders have used included Churchill (his “V” for victory), Gandhi (his loincloth), and Regan (his horse). I would add that part of Donald Trump’s leadership brand is his hair!
Marketing is telling your story. Marketing is also how you communicate your message – some of that is packaging. Gergen’s tie-in of branding is an important thing for churches to consider. Whether church leaders like to admit it or not our culture receives communication from all sources today in a highly branded fashion. The church does not want to over-market its message from a branding standpoint but we have to understand that how we package the message, how it is delivered, by whom, and how the organizational and leadership branding is done does make a difference to the impact and effectiveness of the leader and the message they deliver.
Branding needs to be consistent, clear, and done with excellence. Gone are the days when our western culture will accept mediocrity. Churches need to look at finding that sweet-spot of balance between staying true to the never-changing message of Jesus and communicating it through a leader and an organization that authentically delivers it’s message of hope branded with excellence. Churches, in my opinion need to embrace marketing as a tool that can help brand their leaders and their organizations to deliver a relevant message to a culture that desperately wants to embrace a truly transforming faith.
What do you think? Should the churches consider the branding of their ministries and their leaders?
Image courtesy Flickr: Leadership Summit 2009 photostream.
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